{"id":23515,"date":"2013-01-23T09:57:21","date_gmt":"2013-01-23T14:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=23515"},"modified":"2023-03-31T13:27:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:27:42","slug":"the-path-to-trading-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-path-to-trading-pro","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Quit Your Day Job to Turn Pro Trader YET"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mike,<\/p>\n<div>I recently read an interview you gave in YTE magazine a few years ago. I subscribed online and have been reading previous interviews etc. Your interview offered some great perspective to a new trader like myself.<\/div>\n<p>Although I work full time for a REIT here in PA, I am absolutely obsessed with trading and wanting to be the best at what I do. The challenge that I have is that I do not live in a major city and am interested in a proprietary trading firm that offers the flexibility of working off site and\u00a0has a fantastic training program. I was wondering if\u00a0you have any suggestions for someone like myself or would be willing to speak with me via telephone&#8230;.if your schedule permits. I am willing to work do hard, but it&#8217;s very challenging to decipher which training programs are good and which ones just want my money and offer very little in the long run.<\/p>\n<p><strong>@mikebellafiore<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love the idea of those with a full-time job, staying in that job, working on their trading game by training with a pro firm before deciding to turn pro.\u00a0\u00a0 In my next book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Playbook-Inside-Think-Professional-Trader\/dp\/0132937646\/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1358948748&amp;sr=1-5&amp;keywords=The+PlayBook\">The PlayBook<\/a>, I ask new traders &#8220;where are you going?&#8221;\u00a0 It takes 3 years of training and trading before you will ever make know just how good you can be.\u00a0 So why not stay in that job, get some screen-time, and develop trading skill?\u00a0 Having said this I know thousands every year are going to quit their jobs and start trading pro without the necessary preparation.\u00a0 Trading is just viewed as too awesome an opportunity to let pass when you are young and able to take risk, or bored to death in a pushing-around-paper job.\u00a0 Well at least I said it.<\/p>\n<p>The first question you should answer before you turn pro is: do you have a passion for trading?\u00a0 You cannot answer this until you do some live trading.<\/p>\n<p>Next you must discover what product and time frame is best for your talents and interests.\u00a0 Too many just decide they want to intraday trade or scalp futures.\u00a0 What they should do is learn, train and trade multiple products before they focus on their best product.\u00a0 That is why SMBU created the Rotation Training Program.\u00a0 Dabble in every product before deciding which one is best for you.\u00a0 As I and the great Dave Matthews has said before: &#8220;where are you going?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To the gentleman above, go find an elite training program after your due diligence that feels right to you.\u00a0 For your next vaction, spend two weeks at the office of those traders, experiencing what it is like to trade pro.\u00a0 Open up an account and start working on some trade setups in real-time, building your trading PlayBook.\u00a0 Become proficient in one trade live, and then and only then, move to the next trade.\u00a0 Trade by trade, build your PlayBook.<\/p>\n<p>I hope that helps.\u00a0 Keep rehearsing your trading game.\u00a0 Train well!<\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\":3na\" data-tooltip=\"Show trimmed content\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mail.google.com\/mail\/u\/0\/images\/cleardot.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mike Bellafiore<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/One-Good-Trade-Competitive-Proprietary\/dp\/0470529407\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1357332711&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=one+good+trade+mike+bellafiore\">One Good Trade<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/mikebellafiore\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>no relevant positions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mike, I recently read an interview you gave in YTE magazine a few years ago. I subscribed online and have been reading previous interviews etc. Your interview offered some great perspective to a new trader like myself. Although I work full time for a REIT here in PA, I am absolutely obsessed with trading and wanting to be the best &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-path-to-trading-pro\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[2033],"class_list":["post-23515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-comments-2","category-mike-bellafiore-bellas-blogs","tag-trading-career","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Don&#039;t Quit Your Day Job to Turn Pro Trader YET | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-path-to-trading-pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don&#039;t Quit Your Day Job to Turn Pro Trader YET | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mike, I recently read an interview you gave in YTE magazine a few years ago. I subscribed online and have been reading previous interviews etc. Your interview offered some great perspective to a new trader like myself. Although I work full time for a REIT here in PA, I am absolutely obsessed with trading and wanting to be the best ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-path-to-trading-pro\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMB Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-23T14:57:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-31T17:27:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mail.google.com\/mail\/u\/0\/images\/cleardot.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" 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